WISE Placement Liability

Who is liable if a worker is injured during a WISE placement?

If the agent receives a claim during a WISE placement, they must determine which employer has liability for the claim. Appropriate medical evidence should establish whether the injury for which a claim has been lodged is a recurrence, aggravation, acceleration, exacerbation or deterioration of any pre-existing injury or claim.

When the injury, whether new or the recurrence of the original injury, is determined to be an injury incurred while in the WISE placement, the WISE employer is responsible for paying the first 10 days of incapacity and $506 of medical and like expenses unless the employer has a buyout option applying to their WorkCover insurance policy.

Weekly payments made to the worker will be based on the pre-injury average weekly earnings paid by the WISE employer.

The claim costs associated with this claim will be paid on a claim registered against the WISE employer and be managed by the WISE employer’s agent but will not be included for premium purposes.

When the claim lodged on the WISE employer is determined to be a continuation of a pre-WISE claim all weekly benefit and medical and like entitlements must be paid on pre-WISE claim related to the appropriate type of injury.

If the WISE employer’s agent is different from the agent responsible for the pre-WISE claim then the worker must be advised to forward all certificates of work capacity and accounts associated with medical and like services to the agent responsible for pre-WISE claim.

In this situation it is essential that agents cooperate to ensure that certificates of work capacity and accounts associated with medical and like services are forwarded to the agent responsible for the pre-WISE claim related to the appropriate type of injury.

For premium purposes all claims costs for this continuing injury claim are the responsibility of the injury employer.